Ambient Technology to Assist Elderly People in Indoor Risks

Association between ambient temperature and cognitive function in a community-dwelling elderly population: a repeated measurement study

OBJECTIVES

Evidence on the associations between short-term and long-term air temperature exposure and cognitive function in older adults, particularly those in Asia, is limited. We explored the relationships of short-term and long-term air temperature exposure with cognitive function in Taiwanese older adults through a repeated measures survey.

DESIGN AND SETTING

We used data the ongoing Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging, a multiple-wave nationwide survey.

PARTICIPANTS

We identified 1956, 1700, 1248 and 876 older adults in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007, respectively.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

Participants' cognitive function assessment was based on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire. We calculated the temperature moving average (TMA) for temperature exposure windows between 1993 and 2007 using data from air quality monitoring stations, depending on the administrative zone of each participant's residence. Generalised linear mixed models were used to examine the effects of short-term and long-term temperature changes on cognitive function.

RESULTS

Short-term and long-term temperature exposure was significantly and positively associated with moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment, with the greatest increase in ORs found for 3-year TMAs (OR 1.247; 95% CI 1.107 to 1.404). The higher the quintiles of temperature exposure were, the higher were the ORs. The strongest association found was in long-term TMA exposure (OR 3.674; 95% CI 2.103 to 6.417) after covariates were controlled for.

CONCLUSIONS

The risk of mild cognitive impairment increased with ambient temperature in community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan.

Commercial ICT Smart Solutions for the Elderly: State of the Art and Future Challenges in the Smart Furniture Sector

Within a ubiquitous environment, home and office furniture can be maximally utilized to provide ease, especially if the items are designed based on smart technology. For this reason, the acceptance of smart furniture has soared over the years. Given the vast influence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 on technological advancement in furniture design, it is imperative to examine information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for the elderly in the context of smart furniture design and implementation. This article presents a review of the state-of-the-art literature in smart solutions for the elderly based on publications under ICT smart solutions for these elderly, along with smart furniture options and manufacturer activities in terms of fixing market prices for these furniture materials. Furthermore, patenting rights on some existing smart furniture designs for the elderly, given the current trends in worldwide acceptance, are examined. Moreover, this article also highlights opportunities introduced by IoT-based solutions for the elderly as current trends in research and their effects on human life. Some smart product examples from different enterprises are also presented. New, innovative and active designs must be developed, focusing upon human healthcare, and in turn providing greater comfort and convenience for elderly people. To fulfil these requirements, the also selected technical aspects of new Smart Furniture solutions in connection to the cost of these solutions are discussed. Simultaneously, Smart Furniture solutions need to be flexible, low-cost, easy to buy and install without expert knowledge, and widely available on the market.

ROLE OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT IN SERVICE DEMANDS OF ELDERLY RESIDENTS OF APARTMENT COMPLEXES

An aging population results in an increased demand for services designed to meet the needs of elderly people. To enable elderly individuals to age successfully in their original residence environments, property management companies that provide services to apartment complex residents play an important role as service providers. The purpose of this study was to identify possible services that property management companies can provide to elderly residents of apartment complexes in response to changing demographics. Factor analysis was performed to identify the main areas of service demands or service demand aspects. Cluster analysis and a chi-square test were also used to identify and highlight the varied demographic characteristics and residence conditions of respondents and how they affect the level of importance attributed to each service demand aspect. Results showed seven main service aspects that were of concern to elderly individuals. Specific characteristics of elderly people that led to higher demands for certain other service aspects were also identified. The results of this study can serve as a reference for property management companies to help them provide custom design services for apartment complexes they serve and to expand their business scope and opportunities.

A Behaviour Monitoring System (BMS) for Ambient Assisted Living

Unusual changes in the regular daily mobility routine of an elderly person at home can be an indicator or early symptom of developing health problems. Sensor technology can be utilised to complement the traditional healthcare systems to gain a more detailed view of the daily mobility of a person at home when performing everyday tasks. We hypothesise that data collected from low-cost sensors such as presence and occupancy sensors can be analysed to provide insights on the daily mobility habits of the elderly living alone at home and to detect routine changes. We validate this hypothesis by designing a system that automatically learns the daily room-to-room transitions and permanence habits in each room at each time of the day and generates alarm notifications when deviations are detected. We present an algorithm to process the sensors' data streams and compute sensor-driven features that describe the daily mobility routine of the elderly as part of the developed Behaviour Monitoring System (BMS). We are able to achieve low detection delay with confirmation time that is high enough to convey the detection of a set of common abnormal situations. We illustrate and evaluate BMS with synthetic data, generated by a developed data generator that was designed to mimic different user's mobility profiles at home, and also with a real-life dataset collected from prior research work. Results indicate BMS detects several mobility changes that can be symptoms of common health problems. The proposed system is a useful approach for learning the mobility habits at the home environment, with the potential to detect behaviour changes that occur due to health problems, and therefore, motivating progress toward behaviour monitoring and elder's care.